6 Practical Ways to Stop Gossip

Choose—yes, it is a choice!—prayer over gossip. Pray for others every time you are tempted to tell their story.

Then someone tells you something you don’t want to know, don’t allow curiosity to be your guide. If you don’t listen, you break the cycle of gossip. Remember, if they will spread gossip about others, they will spread it about you!

Don’t repeat information unless it’s helpful to do so and you have a vested interest in the situation, the people involved and their permission to share. Even a prayer request is not a good excuse.

Don’t confess other people’s sins, even if the wrong included you and you feel the need to confess. Share your story, but no one else’s.

Don’t repeat something you don’t know firsthand is true; secondhand knowledge is not enough to justify repeating. You will get something wrong and it will hurt others.

Keep the circle of confession limited to the people involved or to no more than necessary for accountability purposes. The wider the circle and the more the story is repeated, the more likely things will turn into gossip.